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Safe And Sound

Igen Weyr - Zekath's WeyrModest in size, it's obvious whoever lives here doesn't really follow any sense of organization. It's not filthy, but it's definitely like a young boy's room would look — because it IS a young boy who calls this weyr home. There are a few key pieces of furniture, from a worn looking couch and low wooden table, to some cabinets and bookshelves (all cluttered with odds and ends, of course) and then the bed, of course. Which is usually in disarray. Otherwise the weyr is completely functional… just ignore the clutter and clothing strewn about.

Spring means Igen isn't BURNING hot and actually reasonably enjoyable to visit (or live in) in this brief period of warmth that is nice and not deadly. On this clear day, the Weyr is bustling with activity as the day begins to wind down towards evening. K'vir has just finished a full day of grueling drills and is returning from the bathing caverns to walk through the living caverns to grab himself a bite to eat. He's dressed in clothing fit for Igen too; the typical lighter woven fabrics and flowing cuts to help keep one cool and not die of heat exhaustion for the sake of fashion. Lately he's been very withdrawn socially. Work wise? His Wingleader must be impressed as the bronzerider has all but thrown himself into his training. Grueling hours, double shifts and extras… K'vir's done it all. He's not looking to stay in the living caverns long either, as he normally would. Someone finally clued in that he was pushing himself too hard and has ordered he take at least a half day with the offer for that to be extended IF he chose to. Right now, he's got his food and next he'll be hitting up the drinks to grab something alcohol based before he figures he'll spend the rest of his evening holed up in his weyr. What possibly could go wrong between now and then?

Risali. Risali could go wrong between now and then, and she does. There K'vir was, innocently gathering food to feed himself with the hope of a drunken (okay, maybe not that much booze), peaceful evening, and there Risali was, having convinced some nameless dragonrider to bring her back to Igen with every single intention of being nice. NICE. She repeats the word in her head like a mantra, like it will give her some kind of strength if she invokes it enough to not murder K'vir and maybe talk to him. Like an adult. Without screaming. Or murder. Risa, in fact, is so lost in her own head that she doesn't even notice she is headed for a wall of bronzerider until - THWACK. Right into the man's chest (back?) she goes, the collision hard enough to knock the wind out of her, but not enough to knock the sense out of her, and clearly this is his fault because there, in the middle of the crowded caverns, she's suddenly shrieking, "KYZENVIRO," once she's swallowed enough breath. Risali's tiny body has found its way onto the floor, but she isn't there long. She scrambles to her feet, grabs the bronzerider by the arm before he can THINK TO DASH, OR HELP, OR DO ANY NUMBER OF REASONABLE THINGS and then — DOUBLE THWACK. If the 'rider hasn't dropped his food amid the chaotic meeting of bodies, then Risali smacks it right out of his hands, chest heaving. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING." And then? And then she seems to remember where she's at (not that a crowd has ever deterred her before), and why she's here, and would you look at that? Risali's back stiffens, her shoulders tense, and those grey eyes close. She's got a messenger bag of sorts slung over one shoulder, and she hugs it closer with evident irritation as teeth clamp together, fingers grip knuckle-white, and then Risa wills herself to breathe. Her little fit just had the bonus of getting food all over the both of them. "We need to talk." It's only here that grey eyes will reopen, seeking out blue to hold with muted pleading.

K'vir's food does in fact get knocked out of his hand and falls to the ground, ALONG with Risali. The only thing that doesn't fall? Is the bottle of alcohol he has in his hand. Yeah, he WAS going for a pretty buzzed-drunk afternoon THANK YOU! He still might since his day is about to be RUINED. Again! He just stares down at her for a moment, blinking and when as she shrieks and grabs at his arm, he just swears an awful string of swearing and tries to shake her off. SHAKE HER! He's got mean (not really)! "Get off me!" he snaps at her, well before she'll change and try her little nice act. And when she does? He just continues to glare at her and doesn't seem to be buying it for a second. NOPE. "NOW you want to talk? Why should I believe you?" he asks her and, realizing they're still discussing this in PUBLIC, swears again and begins to stalk out of there. Not before he gestures for her to follow. "How do I know?" he continues once they're outside. "That I won't take you to my weyr again and you'll just flip your shit at me? Or pull whatever the fuck that was in Xanadu?" K'vir is in a MOOD! He really should be gentle but after that day he had? NO MORE.

K'vir is shaking her off? This goes over splendidly, with Risali looking like she's ready to spit fire despite the fact that she does not and even keeps her silence despite the fact that she is clearly bristling. In fact, Risali's bottom lip comes between her teeth, where it's clamped upon harshly enough to turn the flesh white as she wills herself not to speak, not to speak, not to speak, not to speak. She stomps after him, glowering at one nosily interested passerby and flinching at them in a manner that has the man or woman scrambling backwards with an affronted gasp. MIND YOUR BUSINESS, her posture says, seeming to wordlessly clear out those whom don't step out of the way for K'vir's equally intimidating presence. And then she lets loose. She grabs his bicep and applies her heels, jerking back to try and swing him around to face her. If it doesn't work, she simply stalks around to the front of him, but either way, tiny hands are forcing themselves against his chest in a push that's in complete contradiction to her stopping him. "YOU DON'T," comes harshly from her, black hair loose and wild about her face with tufts of hair that curl at awkward angles and give the impression that maybe she's coming undone in more ways than one. The words hold the weight of hurt, even as she tries to bury it with the clipped tones of pride and disguises it as anger. "You don't know if I am going to flip my shit on you and YOU." A pause, and then Risali is jerking the messenger back from her shoulders, shoving the entire pack at the man before her, right into his chest. "You kissed me. I spent an entire night getting drunk, and dancing and TRYING TO FORGET ABOUT YOU, and YOU." She shoves the pack at him again, for good measure, regardless of whether or not he's taken it because Faranth, but it feels good. "YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME THAT I WAS WRONG, KYZENVIRO." He hasn't. Her voice rises at the end, high with emotion, and those are… tears? Per usual, Risali swipes at them in the only acknowledgement she will afford them. "Coming here was a mistake," she seethes, and already the tiny woman is turning on her heel, wiping furiously at her eyes, and stomping away - towards where? Well, even she doesn't know. She got lost last time too, remember? It's probably why she stops and shrieks out, "I HATE THIS WEYR." And then starts off in the opposite direction, right past K'vir again.

K'vir probably shouldn't be picking FIGHTS in the bowl! Damage is done though and maybe there will be gossip about this later but for now? He's focused only on Risali and the fact that she PROVES HIM RIGHT! Her grabbing his bicep will be enough to stop him and turn him around and he'll jerk his arm back, trying to dislodge her again before she gets a chance to let go on her own. NO TOUCHING! She's screaming at him and now there's a messenger back thrust at him and he'll grab at it awkwardly as his one hand is still stubbornly holding on to that bottle of alcohol. "You're doing that RIGHT NOW!" he snaps back about her flipping out and as for the rest? He just openly scoffs, then laughs in an almost bitter tone. "What you did? And Calisi? WASN'T RIGHT! And I'll be damned if I let you or her convince me that I DESERVED that! NO ONE deserves that!" He's really on a roll too, isn't he? Only now she's storming off and crying and K'vir feels like an ass all over again. Not enough to apologize though because IT'S NOT ALL HIS FAULT! Now it's his turn to hurry after her and cut off her path, skidding a bit as he comes to an abrupt halt to loom over her. "My weyr," he grits out. "We'll talk there. I won't touch you." No matter how much he may be tempted! YAY anger-lust! "No shrieking at me, no more bullshit. Deal?" LET'S GET THIS DONE WITH.

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M DOING IT RIGHT NOW," Risali shrieks, and she endures him telling her that she and Calisi were in the wrong (regardless of the fact that she's foggy on the why) with silence. Her inability to argue back or defend what she's done is part of what fuels her departure, and for once, K'vir is spoiling her retreat by using his obnoxious height to loom. "Oh," comes bitingly from Risali's lips as, instead of backing down, Risa steps towards the bronzerider and touches him with a finger to his sternum, "this time I have a choice? What are you WAITING FOR, KYZENVIRO? Go ahead." A shove. "Throw me over your shoulder and DRAG ME." Another shove. "GO AHEAD. Fuck you and fuck your FUCKING RULES." Which is to say NO DEAL. Risali shoulders past the rider though, eyes looking for Zekath through tears that she is horrified to find won't stop because she will go. She will go, but she doesn't promise to keep herself together when K'vir has an uncanny ability to bring her apart. ANGRY SWIPE. "ZEKATH," she shrieks, like the bronze will listen to her. "GET HERE NOW." Well, at least if K'vir still wants to have that talk, this is his sign that she's willing to go?

"Don't TEMPT me, Risali!" K'vir growls threateningly and he'll weather the rest of her shrieking with nothing but a dark, pissed off GLARE sent her way. He doesn't care how it happens, so long as they get out of the public eye! Zekath must be of the same mind or he's indifferent to a tiny shrieking woman. He'll glide down and rumble uneasily, tilting his head to give her a wary sort of look. Why is she dragging him into this? He's just the elevator. Whether on his own or by K'vir's insistence, the bronze crouches down and offers Risali his foreleg like a proper gentleman. She can mount up first and K'vir will follow and they'll AWKWARDLY have to deal with being in each others personal space for the short jump required up to the private ledge. It happens fast but NOT FAST ENOUGH! Zekath has barely landed and K'vir is dismounting and being a total ass by leaving Risali to dismount on her own. He'll be sure to shove her messenger bag back on her too in the process. Why? He's still cradling that bottle; which he opens the second he gets inside and by the time she catches up to him he's already swigging from it. NOT DRUNK enough to deal with this! "I have," he begins, struggling to keep his tone level after he swallows down the burning liquid. "No idea, Risali, what I did to you to deserve this? I'm *sorry* I kissed you. I apologized for that and meant it for what little good it did!" But? His jaw works, tense and silence for a moment as he begins to pace the room. Leaving her to just… figure things out. Sit? Stand? Pace with him? HE DOESN'T CARE! "You—" He points at her. "And Calisi? That fucked up shit you pulled? That was harsh. I didn't deserve that."

The sad thing is that Risali does not doubt K'vir would toss her over his shoulder - hence why she shoulders past him and shrieks for his dragon. At least this way, she spares herself some indignity, and when Zekath lands and kneels, she reaches out a hand to gently, gently run it along his maw. "Thank you," she breathes for just the bronze, a mere whisper before she climbs him like the Hounds of Hell are on her heel (or just K'vir, which he is), and endures being pressed into the bronzer for that jump that seems to last forever. The bronzerider might be in a hurry to get down, but Risa is clearly not; in fact, the tiny woman takes a moment to compose herself, only then allowing herself to slowly dismount. This is an exercise she is used to, having spent her life around a gold and a bronze, and she's rather adept at making her way down the hulking dragon without an ounce of hesitation or fear. Zekath is given one more tentative, gentle brush with the tips of her fingers, and then Risali goes to face the music: she heads into K'vir's weyr and straight into his wrath. With her messenger bag. Again. Grey eyes focus on the bottle that the bronzerider is already nursing as she deposits the bag on his couch, watching him pace for seconds until she turns her attention onto the mess that is his weyr and cleans instead. She exhales, going through the comfortingly, tediously repetitive motion of gathering books and other miscellaneous things, only to line them up on K'vir's shelves. When K'vir levels a finger at her, Risali freezes to stare down the length of it for only a moment before shoving the offending appendage away and finally she speaks. "I don't remember," she informs icily, before inexplicably withdrawing into herself and amending with a much softer, "Well. I don't remember well." There's a helplessness in the way she says the last word, in the look that follows and is quickly snuffed by mounting anger as she turns from him in order to slam wayward books into place on a shelf. The treatment of his belongings is rough, to be sure, but a far cry from brutal, and just like that, Risali is putting distance between them under the guise of gathering more things. She lowers herself to her knees on the floor, stacking things into neat little piles for easier cleanup. "And anyway, why are you SO MAD?" SLAM. "You don't even like me." SLAM. "Faranth, but you are IMPOSSIBLE." SLAM, SLAM, SLAM. SNAP. "YOU DIDN'T DESERVE WHAT, KYZENVIRO?" And Risa's inexplicably on her feet again, stalking the distance she just put between them to come right back into his chest and JAB A FINGER IN IT. "YOU are the reason I was out there drinking. YOU. So don't you DARE try to put this on me. YOU ARE JUST AS GUILTY." FINGER JAB. And then she steals his drink, and downs a sizeable gulp because FARANTH, but she is not drunk enough for this either.

Zekath will probably like what little affection Risali shows towards him and perhaps he feels BAD for what the girl is about to endure thanks to his rider. It could be the bronze's fault for why K'vir sort of softens a bit… at least initially. All that goes OUT the window pretty damn fast! He doesn't care that she's cleaning his weyr; it keeps her away from him and he's (not) okay with that! "How nice for you not to remember well!" he retorts in a tone that's suddenly gone quiet bitter. Sorry if he's not showing much sympathy? There is some there; it's what makes him grimace at the end, like his behaviour has left a sour taste in his mouth (no, it's not just the alcohol). "YOU don't remember Calisi grabbing me?" K'vir even points to his crotch as he levels her with a look. WELL? "And YOU don't remember going around behind me? Lifting my shirt? BITING me? BOTH of you all over me and just to taunt me? I'm guilty for ONE KISS! You could have TALKED TO ME!" he's shouting again and when he steals his drink? He won't stop her and just snatch that bottle right back. "I'm NOT YOUR PLAYTHING! Not yours, not Calisi's!" Not Bethari's. He doesn't bring up that incident either and that's probably why he's so upset, really. He glares at her again, fuming mad until he finally begins to get some control over his temper. She can see the effort he puts into it too. "I DON'T hate you!" he belatedly informs her. "I'm *trying*, for whatever damn reason, to like you or, at least, figure out why I should bother forgiving you? You've done nothing but torment me since we crossed paths in Half Moon Bay and I don't even KNOW WHY!" His glaring stops then and he just looks at her with this wounded sort of expression. "Am I really that terrible a person?" he asks, hands spreading in a helpless gesture. LAY IT OUT, RISALI! Because he's at a loss.

What a sweet dragon. TOO BAD THE SAME CAN'T BE SAID FOR HIS CINNAMON ROLL RIDER. Right now, anyway. When K'vir questions what she does or does not remember Calisi doing and INVITES HER FOR A GANDER AT HIS (regretfully) CLOTHED MANHOOD, Risali's eyes obediently follow his hands to the area he's gesturing and — FARANTH. Risa's lips draw into a line, indignant fury in those grey eyes as they lock with blue ACCUSINGLY — but she doesn't interrupt him. She just pointedly cuts her gaze back to the objects she's gathering and stacks them with renewed viciousness. While the bronzerider seethes, Risali listens, enduring K'vir's shouting until she can't endure anymore and stalks, and jabs, and steals his booze. And then K'vir's YELLING AT HER again, stealing back the booze she only just confiscated and damn near stealing her will to be in such close proximity to him without it. For what it's worth, her silence doesn't last long. "STOP YELLING AT ME!" she shrieks, grabbing the bottle of alcohol back and hugging it to her chest as she leans towards him. FINGER JAB. "AND WHO IS THIS ABOUT ANYWAY, KYZENVIRO? IS THIS ABOUT ME, OR IS THIS ABOUT CALISI?" She gives him a good shove, possibly to encourage more space between the two of them when suddenly (mentally) K'vir feints right and goes left. Risali was expecting him to go right. K'vir always goes right. Risali stares at the rider as if she's been struck, for once without words because he's truly rendered her speechless. The silence, the look, it stretches into an awkwardness bordering on eternity, where every breath between them sounds too loud and Risali's own thoughts get trapped somewhere in her throat. She doesn't think about it, she just moves. Suddenly Risali's depositing that back-and-forth drink on the nearest surface so that she can press her much smaller body into the shelter of his (if he lets her) and reach out tiny hands to cup his face and pull gently. She's trying to get him more on her level. "No," Risali whispers, "no, K'vir. You are…" Her mouth opens, her brows furrow, grey eyes jump back and forth between blue as she tries to find the right words, and fails and seems to realize just what it is that she's doing. She jerks her arms back, hands curling into fists that she presses into her chest and her stomach before breathing, "Get away from me."

"I'll stop yelling at you if you stop yelling at me!" K'vir snaps angrily and with a good dose of frustration there too. He's not even going to start on her incorrect use of his name; he's picking his battles here or trying to anyways. "YOU! This is about YOU and us and where things went wrong! I don't even *know* you but you're acting like I've… I've done something awful to you and I don't understand WHAT it could've been!" Minus the kiss. He's acknowledged that, apologized for it and is putting it aside. His drink is stolen again and he'll glower about that but let her have it. What he isn't expecting is for her to move into his space again and to the shelter of his body — or reach to cup his face. Surprised and so VERY wary, K'vir will lean forwards and down a bit, his eyes focused on her in a baffled way. What now? She starts to tell him and then she's jerking her arms back and he rapidly backs away, body tensed and posture defensive. "I'm not anywhere near you!" She came to him! Still? K'vir's staring at her, all the more confused and twisted up but he doesn't heed her request. He doesn't approach her either but carefully walks around to the other side of his sad, worn looking couch and, after repositioning one of the throw pillows, pats the cushion. "Sit? It's not a trick." he tells her in a voice that is level again. "Not gonna do anything. Promise. Just… sit. Talk." He'll just… stand over there, a bit to the side and more in her peripheral vision rather than looming in front or behind her.

Us. Us. Risali doesn't comment now, but if the way she bristles at the word can be considered any kind of indication, it will certainly come up - later. For now she's much too distracted by obnoxiously tall bronzeriders and their NEFARIOUS ability to take her world and shake it up into disarray. She's off-kilter, she's unprepared, and she's losing herself to a man she most certainly does not (does) want to lose herself to. When K'vir abides her wish, Risali lets out a shaky breath she never even realized she was holding - and Faranth, but he wants her to come CLOSER. AGAIN. For a very long moment, Risali does the opposite of that, watching him watch her, looking every bit the captive animal much too wary to approach the man outside her chain-link cage. But she does move, eventually; Risali gathers the booze and moves to K'vir's couch, holding out the bottle for him to take before leaning down to unlace her boots and pull her feet free. Up onto the sofa she goes, standing until she sinks into a cushion with her back supported by one arm of the couch. One leg curls beneath her while the other's knee comes to her chest, and her messenger bag is retrieved to hug against her chest while she resumes staring. Or not. "Us, Kyzenviro?" The words sound acidic, the way she says them. "I'm not one of your playthings." She assumes he has lovers - how could he not? He's young, he's good looking, he's a bronzerider. This 'us' terminology is clearly much too familiar for her. "But yes, let's talk. You sit." And she's tossing the messenger bag at him, though not with much force. "That's for you," she finally says, with exasperation. "Your shirt is inside. Stop giving it back to me."

K'vir will take the bottle from Risali and while she makes herself comfortable, he'll just help himself to the drink. It's like he's playing catchup! They really shouldn't have alcohol here with them. At least it's only one bottle? We'll just forget it's liquor. Probably rum. K'vir keeps his promise and doesn't approach her or sit down on the couch with her; his spot will be to pull out an old wooden chair that looks like its seen better days and flip it around so that he can straddle it and cross his arms over the back. The bottle of alcohol is placed on the low table between his chair and the couch itself. "That's NOT what I meant and you know it!" he growls irritably, narrowing his eyes and it's obvious he wants to continue fighting her. Yelling is the easy thing. Instead he'll try to take a page out of his father's book and repress it all, shove it all down deep somewhere so that he can will himself to be calmer. Calm, calm, calm… don't rise to her bait. Of course he has lovers! He's not ever hidden that fact. He's 100% bachelor baby and enjoys it, but he's respectful about it! Taking the messenger bag, he'll look a little sheepish and mutter a low thank you. "You didn't have to." Yet it's appreciated. He then sighs, "So you ready to actually… talk? Civilly?"

"You come onto me, stare at my," Risali motions to her chest, because words, "abduct me to your weyr, kiss me, and stalk me." WELL, THAT NEVER HAPPENED. "Feel free to add on if I'm missing something, because I have a feeling you think there's an us." She is just baiting him. GO TO YOUR INTERNAL PLACE OF ZEN, K'VIR, especially since Risali is taking his external zen away in the form of BOOZE CONFISCATION. AGAIN. Okay, so nevermind that he already set it on the table between them, swiping it and taking a swig while keeping grey eyes locked on him feels somehow empowering, and so she does it. She does it, and she waits, and she almost spits out her mouthful when he's asking her questions that somehow feel insulting. SLAM. The bottle is placed with a viciousness back where it was before, his appreciative nature and sheepish thank you's completely ignored in favor of making another verbally barbed exploration of his armor. Or not. Risali opens her mouth to say something scathing (if the contortion of her features is anything to go by), and then suddenly, inexplicably, she clamps her mouth shut. One, two, three, and finally she breathes, "I am always civil. YOU are the one who needs to brush up on your sharding manners. Kissing me. And you always - ALWAYS - show up just where you shouldn't be." Okay, so maybe she didn't get as zen as she was aiming for when she counted backwards. Or maybe she needs to start with a larger number, like 10, instead of 3. "HOW DO YOU ALWAYS MANAGE TO DO THAT?" And then look at her, stretching out one of those tiny legs, scooting towards the edge of the couch's seat if she has to, in order to deposit it on one of K'vir's thigh. GLORIFIED FOOT REST. "And now, now you want to yell at me for me and Calisi? YOU DON'T GET TO YELL AT ME FOR OTHER PEOPLE, K'VIR. YOU DON'T." And somehow, the irritation in the way she says his honorific is so much more brutal than when she's ever used his full name. "FINE If you are mad at me for… WHATEVER I did. Biting your back? You a man. I'm sure you just went off and fucked the first person you could find anyway." A pause, and then a vicious, "Though you probably don't have to. You seem the type to have a personal fucking harem." She will retrieve the booze, and she will take another sip. What was that about wanting a fight? Clearly Risali wants one too.

K'vir's expression shifts and there's obvious ANGER there and disbelief. He wants to fight her! To argue his case as he feels that she is completely wrong on several counts (except for one). Oh, he's ZEN ALRIGHT! Barely. Truthfully? He's growing tired of the fighting and if that means he has to be the first to roll over and submit? FINE. Fine! At least he knows deep down he's not the person she's claiming him to be. He bites his tongue and grits his teeth, jaw tensed and silently working as he lets her go on and on about what he did and didn't do and how she's INNOCENT in all of this! "I've already apologized for kissing you. That wasn't right of me, I get it." And he's *sorry*. How many more times does he have to say it? The rest he just glares at her and will try to reach for the bottle again and when she tries to use him like a glorified foot rest? He'll just scoot his chair back and gently set her leg down. NO (but damn if he didn't want it to stay). "It's by unfortunate luck that we keep running into each other. I figure I'm safe enough staying here in Igen but I guess not?" he mutters, only to fix her with a look. Is she serious? "Yeah, I can get angry all I want for being treated like that! I'm probably going to talk to Calisi too. That wasn't fair and if you're honestly justifying assaulting someone as "okay"?" Well, his expression says it all. It's close to a look of disgust but it fades quick enough. Color rises to his cheeks then and his eyes grow hard and cold both. "I did not and would not do something like that," he speaks lowly. He's NOT GOING to mention Bethari and L'or. NOPE! He's not stupid enough to give her that ammunition. Besides? He looks hurt by those accusations alone. "I DON'T have a harem! I don't just fuck any woman I come across! I'm not THAT TYPE of man or bronzerider! I've fought to keep that stereotype away! Yeah, fine? I'll admit it! I flirt! BECAUSE I'M SINGLE. If it ends in me bedding someone, so what? It's mutual agreement. That's NOT a crime, last I heard!" He's going to try to yank that bottle away too. MORE PLEASE.

Listen, Risali might be cruel, but she's not that cruel. When K'vir defends himself, she actually listens; hell, Risali even lets him have the bottle when he reaches for it and, despite looking violently inclined when he removes her foot from his person and puts space between them like she's infected with the plague, she doesn't hit him. She wants to, but she doesn't. She doesn't rely on her acerbic personality to contest his truths, and she doesn't — nope, that's a lie. THERE SHE GOES. "YOU LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS." Despite telling him that he doesn't get to yell at her for both of them. "She was doing the right thing and trying to make me feel better. And you. THAT IS HALF OF THE PROBLEM. You kiss me and it's just, 'I'm sorry, Risali. I'm sorry.' It doesn't bother you. This is normal — NORMAL — for you. And I," Risali's hands slam into her chest for emphasis on just who 'I' means, "I have to drink, and dance, and let other men touch me just to forget." And it didn't work. Despite the fact that she is revealing something better left buried beneath savagery and misguided hate, Risali continues, not at all taken back by his evident hurt despite the sudden tightness in her chest that threatens to close her throat up with it. She doesn't want to hurt him, but the alternative is a much more terrifying prospect. She pushes on, seeming only to grow more and more furious while she speaks. "You want to know what's not fair? YOU. You tossing me over your shoulder and dragging me here when I DIDN'T WANT TO COME. And then you kissed me. I know, I know you're sorry, but that is JUST IT. I keep feeling you pressed up against me, and I can smell you, and Faranth, I can taste you, and I know that it means nothing to you." And there you go, K'vir. THERE YOU HAVE IT. Horrified, Risali only now seems to come to terms with the fact that she's baring her soul, and she makes a swipe for the booze again, despite it already loosening her tongue and dashing her good sense into the ground. Either way, in order to get it, she has to get off of the couch and invade K'vir's space because SOMEBODY moved away. "So don't talk to me about assault, Kyzenviro. You are JUST AS GUILTY."

"Of course it bothers me!" K'vir bursts out mid-way through her ranting. "You think I'm THAT cold? That I don't feel GUILT over what I'd done? Because I *do*!" It's all he says to defend himself. The rest? He'll listen and her words will cut him and hit worse than any blow she could have ever dealt. This, coupled with what went down between his friends in Xanadu? It's all just sort of jumbled and piling up. Hearing her speak like that about him has his hackles raised but he bites hard on saying anything. All but a low murmured: "It doesn't mean nothing to me." HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT RISALI? She'll be unchallenged for the booze and dimly, K'vir is wishing he'd grabbed more; the amount he's consumed has only dulled him to a sort of buzz that isn't deep enough to keep the sting at bay or her words from wounding him as bad as they do. He leans back and away a bit as Risali goes to invade his space again, preparing to slide off his chair and stand if he has too. Paling visibly, all the color drains from his face and while he's still sitting, they're more or less at eye level and he looks up at her, genuinely horrified and so, so hurt. "You… I assaulted you? You really didn't — oh. Oh, fuck." He looks like he's about to be sick, right then and there and now he really IS getting up from his chair. He won't look at her, but he's gesturing towards his ledge. "I'm going to take you home." he says, voice flat and dull. "Or wherever you need to go. Wait by…" It was supposed to be Zekath but his sentence sort of tapers off into a strangled sound. A lot happens at once then: K'vir seems to be frozen, but his bronze is rearing up on the ledge and the air is suddenly filled with that terrible, terrible keening noise of several dragons; raising their voice to mourn the loss of one of their kin. It reverberates from outside AND within, magnified thanks to Zekath's proximity to the inner weyr. Risali may not feel the full brunt but there is one who will.

Risali's laugh sounds bitingly bitter even to her, around the neck of that bottle before she takes another swig. "Doesn't mean nothing to you? Don't. I'm not stupid, Kyzenviro." And then there is a lot, a lot happening in the space of time that it takes her to deposit the bottle back in its place and register that K'vir is going to… what? Risali trails after him like some kind of tiny, angry kitten, hackles raised as she spits out, "I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO TALK, KYZEN— " And it happens. The keening cry of dragons that's horrifyingly similar to one she'd felt in her very bones mere months ago at Half Moon, giving rise to gooseflesh and pushing Risali instinctively close to K'vir despite their ongoing disagreement. There's no hesitation, no qualms now about touching him as she folds her arms in against her chest and presses into his, grey eyes wild as they momentarily try to see beyond the walls of the weyr and finally settle on K'vir's face. She may not feel the full brunt of mourning dragons, or any of it, but she knows something is wrong. She can hear it, she can sense it, and she can see it. This time, her voice is a whisper of breath when she says his name. "Kyzen?" For somebody generally screaming at the top of her lungs, Risali can be awfully quiet; what's more is the word sounds uncharacteristically lacking in any of her usual confidence, reduced to the pitches and cadence of a frightened child. Perhaps she's trying to gain his attention, perhaps she's trying to gain his reassurance; whatever it is, it lasts for only seconds until brows furrow and Risali reaches up to cup K'vir's face between her hands. There's more strength now, but it does nothing to diminish the way her voice shakes when she speaks. "K'vir, what's happening? Is…" Risa hesitates, licking her lips, and then continues with a whispered, "Are you okay? Please talk to me." SHE EVEN SAID PLEASE. MANNERS, SEE? SHE HAS THEM.

No, Risali. K'vir is NOT okay and it's painfully obvious. He's dimly aware of her approaching, of her pressing into his chest but he makes no move to touch her. She may as go cuddle with the wall, it'd probably be a little more comfortable. Somewhere through the haze of alcohol and the drowning, crushing weight of grief hundredfold he hears her. He can ignore her whispered voice but not the touch to his face but even that movement feels mechanical. Sorry Risali, he's on auto pilot! His eyes look down at her but eerily past her; eyes that are over bright and yet dulled and unfocused. There are a few tears but those are an automatic response too; he doesn't cry. Not even when he finally blinks (that'll hold them back) and seems to gradually come back to himself. It's not the first time he's heard dragons keen and not the first time they have with him as a rider. "Weyrling pair," he explains in a hushed voice but flat with the reciting of relayed information. "Failed to return Between on their lesson. M'hya and green Zoroath are dead." Outside on the ledge, Zekath's keening has settled to a grieving, saddened rumbling and in the absence of all those voices the silence is almost maddeningly deafening. K'vir's forgotten all about their discussion, save for the last parts that still hurt and sting along with the rest of the cuts he's taken. "I need to go to him." 'Him' being Zekath, of course. He's still not quite looking at her right and he moves, stiffly, to walk around her. What is she to do? Whatever she wants. K'vir's checked out for now and awkwardly that leaves her adrift and… locked in that weyr of his again. What to do? There's probably some rum left. It's still a disaster in there. But K'vir has left her to figure that out on her own while he goes to reassure his bronze and see him soothed (and let's face it, he's totally gone to cry too, they all know it).

There is something about big, strong men and tears that undo the very fabric of Risali's universe. Tears might be an automatic response on K'vir's part, but Risali's thumbs extend to wipe away his rogue emotion anyway, brows furrowing once more as concern hedges its way across her features and replaces her fear. She's opening her mouth to speak when K'vir speaks instead, and the words he relays chill her back into silence, fixates grey eyes on blue in a way that indicates she's seeing just a little of him as he sees when he looks at her. Risali's unable to formulate words and so she doesn't try, knowing it wouldn't matter even if she did, knowing nothing she could say would make a difference because there are just some situations where the inadequacies of any word in any language becomes painstakingly evident. She cannot make the hurt less, she cannot bring rider or dragon back, and she certainly cannot fix this with poetic prose. She's too stunned to keep him from going to Zekath - not that she would try — and for a very long moment, she simply stands in the sudden emptiness of his weyr as a thousand thoughts fight for dominance and one wins. Risali jerks back into motion, head whipping towards K'vir's ledge before she finally, finally moves after him. This time there will be no repetitive cleaning or boozy-indulgence to distract her (though there might be more of the latter later); Instead, Risali will move with punctuated hesitation until she's beside the bronzerider and his lifemate, intent on comforting both but unsure of how or if she should disrupt the arguably intimate moment between the two. Having come this far, Risali decides to proceed: one arm extends and Risali's hand lands on K'vir's back between his shoulder-blades, shifting down as she moves herself forward and tucks herself into his side, resting her head on the curve of his arm. Her other hand comes down on Zekath, just to the side of where K'vir touches him, and she breathes, "I'm sorry," into the silence. But it seems wrong; it sounds empty and hollow and wrong despite the sincerity behind the sentiment because it's not enough, is it? Nothing she says will ever, ever be enough, but she tries. If K'vir and Zekath both allow her to maintain her contact and quasi-hug, she'll hesitate only a moment, and then tap into those harper abilities to sing. It's truly the only comfort she can think to offer, but even as she sings, the words occasionally break when her voice wavers, a complement to the way her fingers shake when she runs them through K'vir's hair for the duration of her song (if he lets her). But even that song does come to an end. It does, eventually, and when it does, Risali will remain where she is in silence - unless bronze or bronzerider make her leave.

It's difficult to say what is going on at first when she steps out onto that ledge. From afar it looks as though K'vir is just standing beside Zekath with his back towards the inner weyr, his head pressed against the bronze's dusty-colored hide and features hidden. Even on her approach, there may be doubt that there's anything amiss or wrong; it'll be the slight rise and fall of his shoulders that betray him. He's crying but it's done so quietly as he gives into the outlet though his grief is fading along with the dragons keening. It leaves him drained but not as raw as the hurt and turmoil kicked up by everything that's gone wrong. Zekath doesn't flinch or move away from her touch; he will quietly watch her approach but there's only gentle approval and acceptance. He doesn't mind. Her touch will bring a quiet response in K'vir; just a sudden tension to his posture, shoulders drawing up as his breath holds for a half-second before being released in a heavy, weary sigh. He will relax too but not completely and he doesn't return her embrace; he'll support her but there's no effort made to touch her. Maybe it's the singing? Perhaps it's just so surprisingly comforting that he doesn't react beyond just listening and allowing her attempt to comfort him do just that. Sadly, it doesn't fix things but it lessens a bit of the sting of the loss of life. In silence again, K'vir will tilt his head down and while no tears flow, his red-rimmed eyes are another betrayal. He almost asks her again, if she really thinks he's so horrible a person but decides against it. Instead, he just speaks in a voice roughened by emotions as he gradually gets a grip on himself. "Thanks. You… didn't have to — but thanks." Realizing she's hugging him then, even if awkwardly, he'll try to gently and as KINDLY as possible step out from that embrace. Every part of him HATES having to do it because he'll be damned if he doesn't want some human comfort right now but he won't allow it and not even with Risali initiating it. He'll collect himself then, a rather interesting process to watch as he just shoves everything under a mental rug for later. "Are you wanting to go home?" He's picking up right where he left off before the tragic accident. "Zekath and I could bring you or someone else can. I can take you down…" Even though he's ehxausted, probably nearing drunk at this point and just overall? Looks like hell. Yeah, he probably shouldn't be flying, let alone going Between! Sound FAMILIAR?

And when K'vir tilts his head, grey eyes watch him with muted emotion — and she sees it. Risali sees the question he wants to ask and opts against, knows that 'Thanks' and 'You didn't have to' were not the first words that crossed his mind, but she smiles. It might not be blindingly brilliant, but it's a far cry from caustic; it's sympathetic without delving into pity, and warm. "I know," she says softly, and K'vir moves. Risali doesn't startle or protest when K'vir draws away from her, she lets him go; she remains with Zekath, turning her head to the dragon so that K'vir won't see her hurt as she runs both hands along the dragon's arm and keeps her eyes focused on her fingers. One, two, three, and Risali finally stiffens at the bronzerider's choice of words. Zekath will be the only one privy to the way downcast eyes close, and then reopen with determination. The bronze gets one more gentle pat, and then she's pushing away from him to face his lifemate. She looks mad, she moves like she's mad, but when she stalks the distance separating her from the bronzerider and speaks, she sounds resigned to something. "K'vir?" comes softly, seconds before she's reaching out her arms, wrapping them around his waist, and thunking her forehead right into his sternum. She even turns her cheek into him, and exhales, "Shut up." The harper gives the dragonrider a gentle squeeze, remains for only seconds given his evident desire for distance, and then Risa lets him go. "Come on, come back inside. You shouldn't be flying anybody anywhere." Her strength is back, and she will reached for his hand and wait expectantly for him to either grab it and follow her lead, or walk passed her into the weyr.

Zekath observes it all and understands while he quietly watches Risali but he will be a GOOD bronze and not tattle on her to his rider. What he glimpses and perceives will be private and he's perhaps relieved that she at least has the common sense to bring his rider back inside. K'vir, however, is going from wounded and grieved to just wary and exhausted confusion when Risali is suddenly wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest. This, the very girl, who was just shrieking at him moments before and spitting venom and bitterness and so much anger. Who is this? He doesn't understand. He figured she wouldn't want him to be close; she made it SO CLEAR earlier. Right? He is a bad, bad man. Assaulting the ladies and a home wrecker when it comes to his best friend's weyrmate. FORGIVE HIM if he's a little shy and so very wary about touching her right now! "No? No, I guess not." he mutters in agreement and he'll hesitantly take her hand (this makes her happiest, right?) and allow her to lead him back into his own home. "How will you get back?" he asks next without really looking at her. Once they're back inside? He's going for that rum bottle.

When K'vir reaches for her hand, Risali interdigitates their fingers and pulls him along, past his couch, right into the FORBIDDEN SANCTUARY of his bedroom. NO BOOZE FOR YOU, SIR. NOT YET. She doesn't let him go, she does not allow K'vir to make boozy grabs just yet. She hesitates in the doorway, and lets him go, tilting her head towards him and giving him a smile that's wavering in strength. "R'hyn. He'll come and get me." And then she seems to freeze, grey eyes going wide with emotion that's clear and high and gets just as suddenly muted behind a breathy laugh as she remembers. R'hyn can't come and get her; he's indisposed. One, two, three, and then even more softly, "Go and get comfortable." And Risali will retreat, going to where K'vir had originally intended in order to retrieve the booze and bring the bottle back with her. LOOK AT HER NOT CARE IF HE IS TAKING HER ADVICE OR NOT, she just comes right on into his room and pauses, grey eyes seeking out blue as she asks an uncharacteristically hesitant, "May I borrow some of your clothes?" And she will just stand there, waiting for a yes or a no because SLUMBER PARTY.

K'vir might start to hesitate and balk when she's LEADING him to the bedroom but beyond that he doesn't resist. He's not even going to joke or say anything about the situation. He's brought to his bedroom and in the same automatic function he begins to shed his flight jacket and his boots. DON'T WORRY though! He stops there, less Risali was getting ideas. "Alright," he murmurs to both her mention of R'hyn and to get comfortable. He has NO idea that that plan has fallen through and he doesn't even seem to react when she leaves again. He just miserably crawls onto his bed, not even under the sheets, and curls up on his side, facing the wall and giving his back to the door. He'd never have known that she was standing there, until she speaks and her request has him lifting his head sharply. Wait, what? "… sure?" Help yourself? He'll turn his head just enough to peer at her suspiciously from over his shoulder. Wasn't she going home? WHY does she want some of his clothes? "Dresser beside you." He gestures with a nod of his head and then *FLOMP* … his head is back down on the pillow and she has her privacy to do WHATEVER.

AND MAYBE THAT IS THE PLAN. Risali watches him, grey eyes shifting to the indicated dresser where she heads, momentarily depositing the booze. She pulls open one drawer, finds a shirt, and then glowers over at him even though he isn't watching. "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK," she informs him, because yelling her point might breathe a little bit of life back into him; regardless, Risali turns her back to him just in case and strips. Her shirt comes off, she wiggles her way out of her pants, and she pulls on one of his over-large shirts for once glad that she's so much shorter than he is. She doesn't need anything else to keep her covered - HALLELUJAH! Before she retrieves the bottle of LIQUID COURAGE, she folds her clothes and places them on top of the aforementioned dresser, and then retrieves the rum. BECAUSE THE RUM IS NOT YET GONE. Annnnd, right over to his bed she goes, climbing up alongside, pulling his sheets up and over his shoulders, and then snuggling down into them. She will offer him his own booze as a peace offering, shaking it before she delivers the bombshell of, "I'm spending the night." AND TO THIS SHE DRINKS, holding it out for the bronzerider in the event that he also needs to drink. "R'hyn is stupid. Let's build a fort." DO YOU WANNA BUILD A SNOWMAAAAAN?

YELLING doesn't work! K'vir just seems to curl in further on himself (he totally flinched) and promptly grabs the other pillow to place it over his head. THERE, see? NOT LOOKING! He didn't even roll over, just blindly felt around until that pillow was his. It will only be surrendered when he feels her crawling into bed… WAIT. THAT has him turning over to stare at her, then at the rum bottle, which he takes without questioning. As she snuggles down and doesn't proceed to yell at him further, he will settle onto his back and prop himself up a bit; rum is consumed, then the bottle is passed to her. "Why is R'hyn stupid?" he asks with curious neutrality. Don't bring anything up. Talk about other things… NO COMMENTS about being in the bed together. Her request for a fort at least brings a smile back; briefly, but that was a smile! "Here or out on the couch? … we'd probably need the cushions either way." He knows a thing or two about building forts!

Why is R'hyn an idiot? The look on Risali's face might say, 'Why ISN'T R'hyn an idiot?', but she refrains from comment; instead she grits out, "I don't want to talk about R'hyn." Nevermind the guilt she has over sending him out into the wild. GRUDGING RESPECT, but it doesn't make her hate the bronzerider any less (it does). She takes her own share of rum and then settles the bottle on the ground beside the bed, squinting grey eyes around the room before she motions down. "Here. Do you have anything that we can use to prop it above the bed?" And Risa pushes the sheets down, gains her feet, and steps over K'vir to jump on his bed right by his head. She's trying to reach just above her height, to indicate where ANCHORS SHOULD BE. "It's going to have to be higher to be comfortable, but you're obnoxiously tall, so." And then she drops her arms, hugging herself as she starts to feel the effect of the booze. Oh, Faranth, but it feels good. It feels good enough that she actually smiles down at K'vir and then hops off of his bed. "You gather supplies and I will hunt for snacks?" HE'S GOTTA HAVE SOME IN HERE SOMEWHERE, RIGHT? RIGHT?

"Alright," K'vir can get the hint. NO TALKING of R'hyn! Even though he has no idea who he is or why it seems to cause that reaction in her. He'll already begin to mull over her question, brows knit in thought. "Might have something laying around…" he mutters and then she's JUMPING on his bed and so close to his head and she's only wearing one of his shirts? Not that he'd notice details. He's pointedly looking elsewhere. "I can just stay laying down or sitting…?" Does that help with her plans for fort building? She's feeling the booze and he'll feel it when he finally gets to his feet again. Her smile brings a tentative one from him. This… this is better than her yelling. "Sure. Try the little kitchenette." He'll find her the supplies she needs! And she'll find some snacks, good ones, tucked away in the smallest kitchenette ever. This is totally a bachelor pad, folks!

"No, Kyzenviro. We need a big fort." BIG. Also: IT'S A TRAP. As soon as the bronzerider has his back to the bed, Risali takes a FLYING LEAP and lands on his back with a breathy laugh, clambering up higher so that she can lock her legs around his hips and drape her shoulders over his. There's a tightening of her thighs, and then a slight undulating of her own hips as she breathes, "Giddy up," into the bronzer's ear. GO FORTH, STEED. TAKE HER TO THE LIVING AREA.

OF COURSE it's a TRAP! K'vir should have known! So Risali will get the upper hand and manage to jump onto his back and cling to him before he even has a chance to really react! At least he doesn't toss her out of pure shock? He will grunt though and awkwardly shuffle-step forwards to keep from pitching over and eating the stone floor. He'll roll his eyes and sigh heavily but he'll do as she commands WITHOUT any sounds! He has his limits here. Obediently he'll bring her to where the snacks SHOULD be and then promptly attempts to (gently) dislodge her off his back. THERE YOU GO! It's not a bad reaction but it's not a fully good one. Neutral, perhaps? He's still uncertain about all this; half expecting her to just start shrieking again and, drunk or not, he's just wanting peace.

WHETHER OR NOT K'vir is happy with the beginning doesn't matter; Risali gets what she wants, and the entire way to the kitchen, she will throw one arm up in the air and whoop, and holler, and encourage him to, "GOGOGOGO!" But it's not because Risali is calloused and untouched by the heaviness of Igen Weyr's loss, it is because she wants to ease some of the hurt, to distract, to laugh and forget her own hurts and just be. When the bronzerider delivers her to the kitchen, he doesn't have to try to dislodge her because she immediately lets go, dropping to her feet and digging around to grab ALL OF THE SNACKS. ALL OF THEM. It takes her some time, obviously, but she manages to fetch enough to tide them over FOR THE NIGHT, and then she carries herself back into the bedroom - back to the booze. She will deposit snacks on the foot of the bed and then sit while she waits for K'vir to return LADEN WITH HIS FORT BUILDING ITEMS and drink. Worry not, she will leave enough for the bronzer, but she is definitely getting further and further along in the drink. At least one thing is sure: Risali may not be the most graceful personality-wise when sober, but she's a very happy drunk. "KYZENVIRO! WHEN DID YOU FIRST HAVE SEX?" Because this is appropriate, IS IT NOT?

Well her TACTIC works! K'vir slowly eases out of that funk he'd thrown himself into. The longer she acts NORMAL, the better he can lick his wounds and allow them to heal enough that he, too, can start to behave more like himself. The booze help too. Definitely helps. By the time he returns with all those fort building supplies of AWESOME? He's smiling again. He'll even begin to set it up and follow her guidance but for the most part? Risali can just order him around and stay all nice and comfy on that bed! He MUST be drunk too because he doesn't sputter and choke as bad as he would sober. There's just a sort of snorted-laugh and a lot of blushing and he'll just FOCUS ON HIS WORK while he talks. "Was with a good friend of mine. Trader. Known her since we were little. I didn't want the first to be a flight, won or lost. Didn't… want to hurt anyone." D'aww? K'vir pauses, frowns. "Why am I telling you this?" he mutters, looking at her with a sort of baffled expression. Baffled and wary. Gonna laugh it up, Risali?

Risali does let K'vir do most of the work, if only because the bronzerider is taller and therefore at an advantage when it comes to fort-building. At the point when K'vir opens up, Risali is giving in to her restlessness and is laying on her back on the bed, head hanging over the side so that she can look at him upside down - and when he pauses to turn baffled expressions onto her, she smiles and waggles her fingers. "What was her name? Was it everything you hoped for? Have you had sex with a man yet?" BECAUSE IT IS BOUND TO HAPPEN, RIGHT? K'vir is a dragonrider, and those male-male relations will someday, someday probably be a reality for him. But she doesn't laugh, she is genuinely curious. And full of questions. "How many people have you slept with? Do you feel differently about any of them? Do you have a favorite?" A pause, and then she points up, up. "Lift that edge /juuuust/ a little bit more. There you go." And her smile is back as she rolls onto her stomach, heedless of the fact that K'vir's shirt is SLOWLY BUNCHING UP because it is not THAT long, and soon she will be sharing much more with the bronzerider than is advisable. For now, she's safe, and she's grabbing a piece of food to nibble. "Also, you're telling me this because you clearly like me." Here is where he grin turns downright devious, right before she goes Ms. Congeniality on him. "You want to hoooold me, you want to kiiiiiissss me, you want to loooooove me, you want to weyrmate me." He doesn't, she's aware, but teasing him is half of the fun of INVADING HIS WEYR FOR AN ENTIRE NIGHT.

K'vir doesn't mind doing the work; it allows him to think , at least as much as his alcohol numbed mind will allow. Truthfully, it's more of a balm to his otherwise frazzled nerves. Too much happened of late and this will be GOOD for him, if they can continue on this vein, even if they're both drunk. They're not tearing each other apart either. He will hold her gaze when she further pries at him, flushed skin turning a shade darker as he nervous-laughs and pretends that the sheets that he's arranging are fascinating. That or he really needs to focus that much. Mmm, rum is a wonderful thing! "Sharaza and I'm not telling that." SORRY, but no. "Ah— ha, no? Flight doesn't count, either." He points out with a grimace. Then she's asking MORE questions and K'vir will finish with the last of the fort construction before wobbling back a few steps to survey his work. Only when he's satisfied (and RIsali doesn't order any changes), does he return to the bed, grab the bottle and settle himself by the pillows again. He's seated cross legged, the bottle in one hand and his back towards the headboards. Then, and only then, does he answer her and in a drunken honest outpouring at that. "I actually flirt more than anything… but there's been a few girls, here and there. Isn't always, y'know… that kind of sex?" Wait, what? He sort've just gives her a knowing look because he's expecting Risali to GET IT! He has no idea that she's PURE (and somewhat innocent). "No," he scoffs, "I don't have a favourite. Those I have slept with is because there's some sort of connection. I dunno. It's probably stupid but there you go. I'm just… I'm not one of those bronzerider's that just hops into any girl's pants or whatever?" It's COMPLICATED, okay? He's noticed that the shirt has hiked up on Risali and while it brings back (GOOD BAD) mememories of Bethari too, he's… probably staring, until she starts to tease him like that and he rolls his eyes and snorts, smirking as he looks away. "So what if I do? Like you, that is?" he mutters in drunken admission. "Even if you're awful to me. Why'd you think I kissed you?" The word 'kiss' might be slightly slurred on too but he's BACK to looking at her; dead straight in the eyes as he lifts that bottle to his lips and takes another swig.

Risali is being good, unnervingly good (sans a couple of clearly displeased faces for K’vir's lack of willingness to share HOW THE THING WAS), and she waits until the bronzer’s settled on the bed with rum to move. Despite her increasingly drunken state, she has grace to spare when she moves to sit beside K’vir on the bed — but she doesn’t just stop there. Risali drapes her legs over K’vir’s, tucking one foot under his knee as she leans against the outside of his arm and curls one hand around to rest on his bicep just above the bend of his elbow. Her head rests on the joint of his shoulder, and her other hand reaches out to pull one of his away from the bottle and closer to herself. If he allows the contact, then grey eyes will fall to his hand as she delineate palms, knuckles, nails, fingers with the tip of her own. If not? SHE WILL BE SULLEN AND DEJECTED, but remain beside him. Suddenly the tiny woman stills, as if only just catching up to the conversation they’ve been having, and Risa raises grey eyes to lock with blue and their unnerving intensity. She holds K’vir’s gaze for a moment stretching towards infinity and then, finally, she furrows her brows, looking completely unamused. “You aren’t clever, or funny, Kyzenviro.” She will even give his face a gentle push, as if to physically tell him to STOP LOOKING AT HER LIKE THAT. Because she doesn’t believe him, and because it’s not funny; but she glosses over it by dropping her head back onto his shoulder whether he wants her there or not, and plays with his hand in both of her own whether he wants that or not. She locks their fingers, unlocks them, and does any manner of nonsensical things while she’s got him held prisoner. So long as he lets her, anyway. At least she isn’t in his lap — right? And she definitely missed him staring, or she would be pulling down the shirt that’s now hiked up well past decency given her position (though her thighs are together, sparing her any true indignities). “What is that kind of sex, Kyzen? The ‘thanks, now get out before I finish my bath and don’t come back’ kind of sex?” STARE, lean. “It doesn’t sound stupid, it sounds lonely. How can you make any meaningful connections that way?” ALCOHOL, TONGUE, LOOSE, GO! “But okay, you don’t have a favorite. Who do you sleep with the most?” And she will try to swipe the booze for another drink because… WHY NOT?

K'vir will stiffen (NOT IN THAT WAY — yet) when she drapes her legs over his and curls up against him but it doesn't last. The alcohol won't let him be a tense ball of nerves; so he'll relax again and she'll get to examine his hand. There won't be much to note, just the shape of it and skin slightly roughened by hard work and Igen's harsher climate. When she pushes at his face like that? He will just swear and shoot her a look again, shaking it off as he rebalances himself. "What? What'd I say this time that's got you not believing me?" he mutters at her, gaze following her as she rests her head down on his shoulder again. He doesn't move her, he just sighs a long suffering sigh and submits his hand again to her idle fidgeting. Since she hasn't noticed that her shirt has hiked up? He's going to enjoy the view and NOT feel guilty for just naturally liking what he's seeing. If the fabric bunches up any higher though? He may gently and subtly attempt to tug it back down and risk her shrieking at him again. "What?" he scoffs, lifting his head a bit to stare down at her. "No! The — the having sex with hands and mouth kind?" Y'know? DO YOU, RISALI? K'vir's going to stare back too for that part! WELL? He rolls his eyes next though, "I'm not lonely, this is my choice. I don't feel ready to… to commit to something serious. I dunno if I'd make a good 'mate." he mutters and shifts uncomfortably. WHY is he telling her this? But his rum addled brain won't let him stop. "Sharaza. Mostly because it's… We're friends but just with that added benefit now."

K'vir gives her a look? Risali levels him with one of her own and pushes at his face again. AWAY YE FOUL BEAST. "Does that line actually work?" WHAT LINE? She means him liking her, of course, and kissing her because he liked her. "I was under the distinct impression that you kissed me to shut me up." Cue another look from Risali, challenging almost before… right back into his arm she relaxes, unaware of his eyes or the state of her shirt and completely caught up in the bronzerider's hands and his words until — that. Risali makes a face, and then SHOVES K'vir's hand back towards him, then shoves it harder for good measure. "And I'm sharing rum with you," Risali grumbles, contradicting her disgust when she takes another swig of the alcohol and then shoves that at the bronzerider too. It could be worse, right? She could be screaming at him. But she's not; in fact, aside from relinquishing K'vir's hand back into his own possession, she hasn't even moved. Grey eyes fix on her toes, she wiggles them in K'vir's lap, and then she leans forward with a lazy smile that might be teasing except that she's a little too tipsy to pull it off correctly. "I don't agree with you." About making a bad 'mate, and then she holds up a hand as if to prevent him from speaking only to add, "But don't let it go to your head, bronzerider." And then she'll settle back, flopping her head right back onto his shoulder and scooting closer to him. SQUISH. THEY ARE NOW SQUISHED. Save her shirt, K'vir! "So do you think, in the end, you're going to commit to Sharaza?" Now she's picking at the hem on the arm of his tunic, keeping herself busy while she plays 21 questions (and notedly offers nothing of herself in return). "It's a pretty name, by the way. Do you think you have any kids? What's your favorite thing to do?" Oh, Faranth. "Or have done to you, I'm not picky."

K'vir grunts when she pushes at his face again but he takes it like a champ! It's the alcohol, dulling his reactions now as his head swims and his body gets that lovely warm disconnect. "What line? I wasn't lying! You think I use that on girls? Ha! I wish. Doesn't work that way… I was trying to be honest," he grumbles while staring at her and then laughs — LAUGHS! of all things when she shoves his hand again. "Haven't lucked out in awhile, you'll be fine," he slurs at her and just so that he can see how much more she'll wriggle and squirm; actually… he promptly shuts that thought down too. NO. No, he will NOT PICTURE her like that (until later). Then he seems to study her for a moment, drukenly, but the wheels are turning in that head of his. "Don't like it?" he teases, a wry grin curving his lips. "That's new. Dunno if I've ever met a girl who didn't like either. So… what? You don't do the same for the guys you must have flocking at your feet?" Ooh, does the booze ever make him (stupidly) bold! When she leans forwards to smile like that, he might try to slip his arm around her then but only because he's feeling a little unstable and she's scooting closer and SQUISHING against him; his other arm will brace and prop them up. Her questions have him shaking his head (BIG MISTAKE) and he laughs a little breathlessly. "Who knows? I doubt it. What we have now works for us. I can't think of us as anything more." He hasn't seemed to notice that she's deflecting his questions. NOT YET. "It is, isn't it? I call her Skydancer sometimes… old joke. Heh, we were really little then. No, shards… no. No kids!" Not for a long while yet. Her next prying question? Has him laughing again because he's well and truly drunk then and on a roll. His features settle into something truly mischievious and he RISKS getting slapped for this but he doesn't care. There's no kiss, but he'll lean his head in close as he half-chuckles, half murmurs in a low tone. "Want me to show you my favourite thing?" YEP. K'vir just went there even if he's not entirely serious (yeah he's mostly serious).

Trying to be honest with her? Look at Risali not buying it; in fact, despite the booze and her perpetual state of Happy-Drunk, some of that temper seems to be rising right back to the surface - though she reigns it in spectacularly compared to her efforts when sober. She doesn't even call him a liar. Again (though she wants to). It pays off when K'vir is right back to being silly (honest?), and Risali gives him a gentle punch in the arm, half to relieve her own tensions, half because he deserves it. "Ugh," is the only appropriate response that she has, right up until he's putting her on the spot and she pushes his face again. "You're disgusting and you smell like rum." BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T, RIGHT? DEFLECT, DEFLECT. ABORT ABORT. But she's giddy, and she's giggling, and she's swiping booze back while letting him put his arm around her and relaxing into his side with her head finding the 'girlfriend nook' - you know, where shoulder and torso meet. She smiles up at him almost adoringly while he talks of childhood friends turned lovers, a lack of children and — FREEZE. Risali's entire body stiffens, grey eyes wide as K'vir leans in close, close, too close and she uses the bottle at her lips as a buffer to separate them from each other. The bronzerider might be three-fourths of a quarter joking, but it doesn't stop Risali's heart from hammering against her ribs while her lungs stumble over breath and breathe a little too fast. For a long moment she simply stares at him, grey eyes jumping back and forth between blue, before fixating on his lips and - "Are you going to kiss me again?" she breathes, though her voice is lacking its usual strength, coming out a mere whisper of failed teasing that seems to broadcast how unopposed she is to the prospect despite wanting to be. And then those grey eyes lift again, to his, unwavering.

K'vir will forgive that punch to his arm. It probably helps things move right along, really! All this teasing and playful banter has made his dulled mind forget that this if the very same girl who, moments before, had made him feel like the lowest scum to grace the surface of the planet. Not to mention everything that's happened for that! "You do too. You've had as much as I!" he fires back about the rum, less she confuse him calling her disgusting! He'll just grin all the more for her staring and the obvious effect his words have had on her. Oh, he's a sly one, he is! He knew it'd get a rise out of her; drunk or not, there's still some awareness left. She may not want to believe it, but he was being truthful! Some part of him DOES like her and find her alluring, even IF she's treated him so roughly. He's GIVEN HER HINTS (drunken ones) about how he goes about flirting and that he tends NOT TO CHASE a girl if he doesn't feel some sort of deeper attraction beyond: dayum, she's hot. So when she breathes that little question of hers? K'vir will chuckle, eyes closing briefly before they open and lift to meet hers as he murmurs low: "Only if you want it. Because, yeah… I do want to. A lot." ALL NIGHT, Risali! Say yes and he will make you feel like a queen!

And Risali has got the hints, but that doesn't mean she believes him - about herself, anyway; he wouldn't be the first man in her life to kiss her and humiliate her (and with arguably good reason). She isn't unaware of her less-than-stellar attitude, she just doesn't care. Still, despite playful banter, K'vir toes the line between playful and not, and crosses over into not. Risali, for once, cowers just slightly away from the bronzerider as he clarifies that what they do is her choice - and she does it. She doesn't say yes or no, she just brings one arm up around his neck, tangles fingers in his hair, and pulls his mouth to hers. She meshes their lips together, a soft, breathy sound escaping her as she arches her back into him and then moves. She rises, and suddenly the bunching up of her shirt is irrelevant, because she's straddling the bronzerider's hips now and taking advantage of the position to rise on her knees so that he has to tilt his head back to kiss her. Her free hand finds his neck, fingers ghosting over his Adam's apple and up his neck to his cheeks. Maybe he won't get to spend the night making her feel like a queen, but when Risa pulls back, those grey eyes are stormy dark, pupils blown to show that yes, yes, she is enjoying the bronzerider beneath her entirely too much. "Dance with me?" she inquires, because at least if they dance, she can get back some of her self-control. Maybe. Probably.

K'vir's breath hitches for one small half breath when she brings that arm of hers up around his neck and he can feel her fingers tangling into his hair. He'll let her lead and allow himself to be drawn down into that kiss and the sound he makes is almost, almost an exhaled growl; her movements draw it out of him, just as he'll shift to welcome her as if this were the most normal thing ever to happen and that neither of them are doing this because the rum has lowered inhibitions. Still, he doesn't do anything that would push beyond inappropriate, even with her straddling his lap and his body suddenly suffused with the heat of need and desire; both of which are promptly put under a vice like grip. He can't stop himself from responding but he will NOT push beyond just the kissing… and what a kiss! Her touch makes it trice difficult to be good when she breaks away and his hands will rest just above her hips, gentle but firm; he does not hold her there, she is free to move, but he savors it all the same. "Yes," he agrees, voice thick and low throated as he holds his head back just enough to look up at her and to speak. His eyes are dark too and there's no denying she hasn't had a strong effect on him. Not all women do. "I'll dance." She's going to have to lead though, as he seems QUITE reluctant to move from under her.

Faranth, but Risali doesn’t want to move either, and for a time, she doesn’t. When he agrees to dance, she breathes, “Okay,” and lowers her head back to his. Risali’s forehead finds K’vir’s, grey eyes closing as noses touch and the smaller woman keeps the bronzerider’s face cradled between her hands. Thumbs brush against his jaw and higher up against his cheekbones, and Risali remains on her knees, lifted, hips pressed into him even as her back arches to accommodate the necessary space between bodies. She catches the breath he stole from her with that growl, with that kiss, with his ability to keep control for both of them because, alcohol or no, Risali is afraid she wouldn’t say no, and it leaves her aching in a way that’s as terrifying to realize as it is pleasant. And then she pulls back, brows furrowed. “No laughing at me,” she whispers, and it would sound threatening except that she hasn’t quite caught her breath yet. “I want you to hold me. Like this. And dance.” This is reasonable, right? DRUNK OR NO, she trusts him. And if he obliges (HE BETTER OBLIGE), then when K'vir stands, she will wrap her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck to help him with the burden of her weight. And then she will exercise her (alcohol-induced) trust completely by letting out breathy laughter, pulling her arms from his neck, and leaning away from him so that he will be forced to brace her back as she stretches away from his body or drop her. THE LATTER WOULD BE ILL ADVISED, SO HOLD ON TIGHT, K’VIR. And when she’s done extending her arms outwards like some daring kind of two-person yoga stretch, she will right herself again with arms around his neck and laugh. It’s unhindered by any of her usual misgivings or failing charm, bubbly and warm and — “Dance, Kyzen.” And she will sing. It’s all merry little jaunty songs, an attempt to lead them both away from unspent desire and (totally welcome) UNWELCOME WANT; it's full of giggling when the bronzerider moves or TRIPS or does whatever he does to ACCOMMODATE HER SILLINESS and at some point she kisses him. Again. And again. And again. They will be chaste in that they are short lived and chased by giddy laughter, preceding Risali shouting more lyrics well into the night with a manner that’s both delighted and carefree. Eventually, she will let K'vir put her down and dance with him herself, but even that too will end. Exhaustion will catch up, she will curl up with snacks and lean on him to talk more about life and things, and she will eventually fall asleep. Too bad this couldn’t last forever. Forever would have been fun.